Earring



C. FREUNDLICH I EARRING Filed June 30, 1959 IN V EN TOR.

m PMW ATTORNEY United States Patent 6 3,031,864 EARRING Clarence Freunrllich, 35 South Derby Road, Springfield, NJ. Filed June 30, 1959, Ser. No. 823,910 1 Claim. (Cl. 63-14) My invention relates generally to an earring, and specifically to an earring fastener mounting.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide an earring having a mounting to which the retail merchant may readily apply either a screw type or clip type fastening.

Yet another object of my invention is to enable the retail merchant to reduce his total stock by eliminating the necessity for stocking earrings with different types of fasteners.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a partially assembled earring to which a chosen type of fastener may be easily and semi-permanently applied.

These objects and advantages as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by the device shown by way of illustration in the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of an open earringfastener mounting made in accordance with my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view of an attachment prong of a fastener;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of a fastener;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of a clip-type fastener;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a screw-type fastener attached to an earring ornament;

FIGURE 6 is a partial top plan view of the earring fastener mounting and the fastener itself attached together.

FIGURE 7 is a partial top plan view of the earring fastener mounting and fastener itself attached together with the cover-plate folded down; and

FIGURE 8 is a view in perspective of the earring ornament and mounting plate attached together before the fastener is inserted and attached to the mounting plate. Referring now to the drawings in detail, my caningfastener mounting 11 provides a mounting plate 12, made of non-resilient, deformable, metal. The mounting plate 12 has a raised center portion 13 defining a channel 14 underneath it, The channel is adapted to slidably receive the earring-fastener prong 15.

The raised center portion 13 is formed integral with sloping side-portions 16, 16 which are also formed integral with the planar side-portions 17, 17. The sideportions 17, 17 are adhesively secured, riveted, or attached in some other way, to an ornament 18 which is the display portion of the earring.

The earring-fastener mounting plate 12 has a pair of top slots 19, 19 at one end of the raised center portion 13, and a single bottom slot 20 at the other end of the raised center portion 13. Between the slots 19, 19 there is a neck 21 which has a scored line 22 that defines the point at which a domed cover plate 23 will fold to cover the mounting plate 12. A tab 24 is provided on the cover plate 23, for use in lifting the cover plate 23 if the prong 15 is to be removed from the mounting plate 12.

The earring fastener mounting 11 serves as a mounting for an earring fastener. Earring fasteners of any type provided with a prong 15 may be used. There are two types of earring fasteners in general use; the one is the screw type shown in FIGURE 5; the other is the clip type shown in FIGURE 4. The provision of either type 3,a3l,864 Patented May 1,1362

ICC

is merely a matter of choice and is no part of the present invention. Only the interchangeability by use of the prong 15 is a feature of the present invention. Either type may be attached to the mounting plate '12 if provided with the prong 15.

The screw type fastener shown in FIGURE 5 has a threaded pin 25 having a pad 26 at one end, and a knob 27 for turning it at the other. Turning the knob 27 will bring the pad 26 into engagement with the earlobe of the wearer and grip it against the domed cover plate 23. The clip type fastener shown in FIGURE 4 has a clip 28 normally urged toward the prong 15 by a spring 29. Of course, when the prong 15 is mounted on the mounting plate 12, the domed cover plate 23 will be bent down and will be in contact with the gripping area 33, which will bear on the domed cover plate 23. The clip 28 is pivotally mounted on pairs of opposite ears 30 on the prong 15.

To assemble an earring with the chosen clip or screw fastener, the prong 15 of the chosen fastener is inserted under the raised center portion 13 of the mounting 11. The prong 15 is provided with a pair of end tabs 31, 31 and a central tab 32, The insertion of the prong 15 is carried on until the end tabs 31, 31 coincide with the slots 19, 19 and the central tab 32 coincides with the slot 20. The top tabs 31, 3.1 are then raised and bent over into the slots 19, 19. The central tab 32 is then raised and bent over into the bottom slot 20 as shown in FIGURE 6. The domed cover plate 23 is then folded on the scored line 22 until the mounting plate 12 and the prong 15 are completely covered by it so that the ear-lobe of the wearer, when held by the fastener, is gripped between a pair of smooth surfaces which will not irritate or abrade the skin. In order for the cover plate 23 to clear the pad 26 of the screw type fastener shown in FIGURE 3, the fastener may have to be slightly deformed to allow the cover plate 23 to pass the pad 26 as the cover plate 23 is folded over. If the screw type fastener is deformed beyond its elastic limits, it may easily be bent back to proper position as shown in FIGURE 3.

Ornaments incorporated into earrings provided with my earring-fastener mounting may be sold without the clip or screw fastener portion assembled, so that when the customer chooses an ornament, it may easily be provided with either a screw or clip type fastener, depending on the purchasers choice. It is now no longer necessary for the merchant to carry in stock, two of the same style earrings with different type fasteners in order to satisfy the desires of every customer.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claim, although they are not specifically catalogued herein.

I claim:

An earring comprising an ornament, a slotted plate attached to the back of the ornament, a raised center portion on the plate defining a socket channel located between said plate and back, a neck on the plate, a domed foldable cover-plate integral with the neck, a prong positioned in the socket channel, a pair of tabs on the prong folded into engagement with the plate through a pair of corresponding slots in the plate adjacent to the neck, a central tab on the prong folded into engagement with the plate through a corresponding slot in the plate opposite the pair of slots, said folded tabs lying transversely of surfaces on said plate which face opposite ends of said 5 channel, a fastener attached to the prong, and the domed coverplate folded over the socket channel and the end of the prong.

References (Zited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Smith Apr. 14, 1925 Knauf et a1 Nov. 10, 194-2 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Nov. 6, 1958 Great Britain Sept. 30, 1959 

